“In his first homily as pope, Benedict XVI said the same thing. He said: ‘We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.’ This is a vital truth. Every one of us is the result of an act of the creative imagination of God.”
Archbishop Chaput continued with his second point. “As Catholic laypeople, you have an ‘ecclesial’ being and identity. You’re leaders by virtue of your vocation as parents and executives, and the Church is where you belong. It’s where God has called you to be. In the Church you will find God’s will for your life.
St. Maximilian Kolbe said that “Every man and woman in this world is assigned a mission by God.”
Archbishop Chaput made sure that the assembled business leaders really appreciated the weight of this belief saying, “that’s true. It’s the teaching of the apostles, popes and saints. But can we really believe it? Do you really believe that God has a mission, some special task that he has given you -- and only you -- to carry out in this world? Do you really believe that you are necessary to God’s plan for human history?”
Our divine mission is the same as St. Maximilian Kolbe’s in the Nazi concentration camp, “to love as Jesus loved, in all of the unique circumstances of our individual lives. And by our love, to spread the love of God to the ends of the earth.”
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It is important to realize that we are called to be missionaries – not necessarily like Matteo Ricci who evangelized China in the 16th century or more recently, Mother Teresa who served the poorest of the poor in India, God is calling us to be missionaries in our homes, our neighborhoods and workplaces.
In our world today, it is necessary that we evangelize our world because it’s operating as if it has “no need for God.”
How are we going to evangelize? The archbishop suggests an answer straight from history.